Rockies Year In Review: Jorge Rondon

The next installment in our player review series is Jorge Rondon.

Trying to pound out 400 words on Jorge Rondon should be interesting, given that he pitched exactly one inning for the Rockies in 2015. He faced 7 batters and gave up 3 runs. He was given one more chance three days later and didn’t even record an out. He’s already been offloaded, too, designated for assignment pretty much immediately after that horrid outing. The Rockies clearly did not believe that Rondon was just having a bad day.

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Since his stats with the Rockies are laughable (90.00 ERA, 11.000 WHIP, 27.0 BB/9, 7 ERA+), let’s unpack that second outing in detail and try to determine what went wrong. It all started in the bottom of the 8th when the Rockies were losing to the Padres, 6-2. This is still early enough in the season (May 1st) that the Rockies’ playoff hopes hadn’t totally gone down the toilet yet. But given the deficit they were facing, perhaps Walt Weiss thought that now was as good a time as any to try his mostly unproven recent callup. I suppose he was right, since the game was probably a loss either way. Still, you know, LoDo magic. You always have to leave that possibility open, and Rondon snatched it away. Violently.

Rondon started out with a battle against Will Middlebrooks, which he lost when Middlebrooks walked on seven pitches. That has to be disheartening for a guy hoping to prove himself. The next batter, Alexi Amarista, walked as well, but this time on only five pitches and with only one strike. So already Rondon was losing his ability to work the count against hitters. Cory Spangenburg came to the plate next, pinch-hitting for pitcher Dale Thayer. On a 1-1 count, Spangenburg laid down a bunt, but it was too far down the line for Nolan Arenado to do anything with it. Bases loaded.

Now was Rondon’s chance to show us what he was really made of. Could he get himself out of this jam? We already know the answer to that, but let’s see how he didn’t do it. The next batter, Wil Myers, hit what should have been a routine grounder to Arenado, but he couldn’t manage that one. Not only were no outs made, both Middlebrooks and Amarista scored, and Spangenburg and Myers found themselves in scoring position. That part was not Rondon’s fault, and he maybe even should have gotten a double play out of it. So perhaps he’s due our sympathy at this point.

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Alas, things only unraveled further from there. In another 7-pitch at-bat, this one only reaching a 2-2 count, Yangervis Solarte singled home both runners. A Matt Kemp single, a Justin Upton single, and a Derek Norris double scored three more runs. Evidently the 2-run double was the final straw, because that’s when Weiss lifted Rondon for Christian Friedrich. Final line: 0 IP, 5 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 0 K. Bye-bye Jorge.

Hey, that was almost 500 words!

Overall Grade: F

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